


Fred Andrews and Hal Cooper: Both Gone, One Forgotten

by jaesixes



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, but before 4x02, deceased Fred Andrews, deceased Hal Cooper, mentions of the Farm, mentions of the Gargoyle King but it is not key to the plot, somehow I managed to mention jason blossom, the coupley stuff isn't the main thing, this happens after Fred's funeral, two deaths are spoken about, underage drinking written badly because the author knows nothing about alcohol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 10:49:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21196439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaesixes/pseuds/jaesixes
Summary: Betty's going through the motions when Fred Andrews dies two months after her father.orA oneshot exploring Betty's feelings about the deaths of her and Archie's fathers.





	Fred Andrews and Hal Cooper: Both Gone, One Forgotten

Losing Fred Andrews was absolutely heart-breaking. A good, honest man. Hard working, provided for his family, actually gave a shit. Mary lost her husband and true love, and Archie lost his father. Jughead lost someone who meant more to him than just his father's best friend, or his best friend’s father. Veronica lost the only true father figure she ever had. And Betty, fresh from the horrors that ensued at the Blossom hunting lodge, lost a reliable father figure that she looked up to, that actually cared for the town, with a pure heart. Riverdale lost Fred Andrews, a man who touched the hearts of many. A man who respected others and was respected back.

The funeral could not have been more beautiful. Almost the whole town had arrived for the funeral to say their goodbyes. Even Josie had taken time from her touring the country with her father to give a melodic tribute to Fred. Mary and Archie stood proud of the man he was, the man he will continue to be in their hearts. The service ended after Archie’s speech, and everyone slowly dispersed. Betty decided to take the time to go visit her own father, buried two lots away in the same cemetery. Her heart ached; trust her and Archie to both lose their fathers in the same year. Only one died a hero; it sure was not her father. Spray painted across Hal’s tomb was reminder enough of all the wrongdoings.

_THE BLACK HOOD BURNS IN HELL_

Betty hopes he does. But she also felt like shit as she threw beer bottles off of the area which he is buried. Only Betty, Archie, Veronica, and the Joneses made it to Hal’s funeral. FP was there because it felt wrong to have poor Betty deal with yet another thing that she was too young for. Cheryl made a brief appearance with Toni and the twins; both safe from Penelope and the Farm, but only at the Elm Street house and not where he was buried. Polly and her mother, unaware of everything, were still swept up in Edgar’s cult shit and clearly did not attend. By the end of the night, Betty sat at Pop's alone in a corner, rather than her usual booth.

‘The whole town came out for Mr Andrews. My own mother wasn’t even here to see Dad get buried.’

“Betty! We have to head back,” called Veronica. Betty walked away from where the Black Hood lay, to go and help set up a small surprise for Archie and his mother. It was, after all, the Fourth of July, and Fred Andrews would never want them to spend the whole day sitting idle and crying for him.

After lighting the fireworks that Cheryl had procured, everyone headed to their respective homes to wash away the tensions of having to say goodbye to Fred. Jughead and Jellybean went home earlier as they were going to spend the day at Archie’s the day after. Betty, who had gone to spend some time with Juniper and Dagwood, wanted to be with Archie too, but she had to focus on taking down the Farm. So she texted Charles to let him know that she'll catch up with him tomorrow. FP had rushed straight to the station to work on his next case, so Betty knew that everyone else was already asleep by the time she’d gone back in. She took this time to walk down to the basement, but not before stealing some whiskey from FP's cabinet.

'I'll only be doing Mr Jones a favour, he's done so well sobering up...' she thought, opening the bottle and taking a swig. She placed the bottle down by the others and sat still, thinking over everything. Polly, her mother and the Farm. Her dad forcing her to do things under the guise of the Black Hood. Archie having to deal with his dad getting shot, surviving, and then dying in a car accident two years later. Penelope Blossom being the mastermind behind every shit thing happening to Riverdale after Jason's murder, just to take revenge on the town. Seeing the same woman who lost a child deprive another of having their father.

Her father.

Harold 'Hal' Cooper.

The Black Hood.

The man Betty fixed car engines with growing up.

The man who manipulated the lives of all the Cooper women.

Ice cream with him and Polly at Pop’s.

Killed people for sinning, failing to notice his own sins.

Elizabeth Cooper's father.

Elizabeth Cooper's attempted murderer.

Murdered in cold blood by Penelope Blossom.

'His grave was completely trashed... Can I blame people for doing that? But still, that’s my dad's grave.'

Another swig of whiskey blistered the inside of her throat as she choked out a sob.

'My mother doesn't even know about Dad, let alone Mr Andrews. The whole town is mourning with Archie. That’s what he left behind. People curse my Dad, praise the fact that he is dead.'

A few more sips of whiskey and this bottle was emptied. Another bottle; this time beer. Another sip. Repeat.

Betty's heart sank remembering that Archie, too, has just lost his father. She needs to be strong. This is no time to mourn for her murderer father. How silly of her to think it'd be right to do so. She's fine. She has her half-brother and her friends. She has Jughead. She has her old house. She has nothing. She has everything. But just this once, she let her body betray her, shook in pain and got increasingly drunk, as agonising wails came out.

The cries from the basement eventually caught both Jughead and Jellybean’s attention; the latter had woken up worried, and ran to her brother who was proofreading Fred’s eulogy. He'd told the young girl to go back to bed while he went down to look in the basement. Halfway down, the smell of whiskey hit him and he frowned, knowing that it was not his dad.

"Betty!"

Warm arms found their way around the distraught girl, who in response huddled into him. Gentle shushes, soft pecks on the top of her head, anything Jughead could do while he embraced her, he did. Sobs wracked through her body, tears wetting Jughead’s shirt. They started to rock back and forth; whispers of 'he's gone', 'it will be okay' and 'I'm here' exchanged multiple times.

"Betty, please stop crying, I'm here," Jughead murmured as Betty's cries softened slowly. The girl pushed herself further into Jughead's embrace; desperate to find some semblance of comfort. Jughead held on tighter, hoping this small gesture would help her calm down. Betty's breathing eventually evened out, and Jughead deemed it okay to carefully take her back upstairs to their room. His dad was walking into the house just as he got back into the hallway. He paused, Betty in his arms.

"Dad."

"Jug," FP said softly, "It's 2am son... what happened?"

"I found her downstairs with empty bottles." Jughead and FP both frowned.

"And JB?"

"I hope asleep. I told her to stay in bed just now."

"Jughead, she'll need you right now. Fred- Fred dying so soon after Hal. It's gonna be tough on her. Especially now Alice is MIA. You take care of her, but also take care of yourself. All those days Fred took care of you when I was being a shit father. Don't let it go to waste." Jughead nodded in response and his dad gestured to take Betty off his hands. The Jones men slowly made their way upstairs as they set Betty into the bed.

"Right, I'm heading to bed Jug," FP said while hugging his son, "Good night, boy."

"I love you dad."

"Love you too. Now get some sleep. Betty's gonna need help nursing that hangover tomorrow morning. And send the eulogy over already, you’ve been at it since I left for work."

In her dreams, there is no Farm or the Gargoyle King. Chic never happened, and Alice never gave up Charles. There is no Black Hood forcing her to torture herself. Jason Blossom was never murdered, the Blossoms and Coopers got on, and Juniper and Dagwood have more typical names. Archie and his dad are sat in their house next door having breakfast with Mrs Andrews who didn’t move to Chicago. Veronica's parents weren’t part of the mob, and they lived without all the bloodshed. Josie's mum was still Mayor and Kevin's dad worked at the police station alongside Jughead's dad. In her dreams, nothing was ruined.

In her dreams it is a blissful, utopic life.

In her dreams, Betty is okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is probably the only Riverdale thing I'll write because I only wrote it because I didn't really see anyone else write it.


End file.
